FASEB (Federation of American Societies for Experimental Biology)

Plan-A-ware by Attainium Eases the Way

Like many organizations today, The Federation of American Societies for Experimental Biology (FASEB) faced the challenge of developing a business continuity/disaster recovery plan. "Initially, we thought we'd need to bring someone in to prepare the document," said Maureen Murphy, Deputy Executive Director of Human Resources and Administration. "As part of the process Bob Mellinger of Attainium came out and conducted a business impact analysis which guided us through the development process of creating a plan. He then told us about Plan-A-ware, a web-based software program Attainium developed, which would help us both develop and maintain the plan ourselves. After viewing a demo of the program, we decided it met our needs."

"Plan-A-ware required us to maintain focus on the project," said Rick Dunn, FASEB Director of Campus Services. "The process kept our feet to the fire, plus we had peace of mind knowing we had support from Attainium staff who are well versed in plan development. With Attainium as the project coordinator, we were able to stick to the deadlines so the plan wouldn't get put on the back burner."

After years of working with organizations to develop and test business continuity plans, Attainium Corp created Plan-A-ware to simplify the planning process and to make maintaining such plans easier. "Developing and maintaining business continuity plans has always been a challenging, resource-intensive process," said Bob Mellinger, Attainium CEO. With Plan-A-ware, which is a collaborative, hosted business continuity planning and management service, users are guided through the process step-by-step, given deadlines and reminders that keep things on track. The service provides access control, site security, revision tracking and ease of navigation and is designed to help users easily understand the complex nature of business continuity planning and recovery.

"Without the software, creating, maintaining and updating our plan would have been too burdensome," Murphy said. "Like many organizations, we have a number of people who are tasked with keeping various parts of the plan updated and with Plan-A-ware, administrators can see whether things are getting done. Now, instead of having a huge, cumbersome document, the plan is online and everyone who needs access has access."

"Bob and the Attainium team were pleasant, professional, no-nonsense... all valued attributes," Dunn said. "They were straight shooters and were quick to point out various options of plan development and the possible outcomes of those options. They also understood their role as a consultant and that the decisions should rest with us. It was a major advantage to have their professional expertise to help us keep the process on track and moving forward."

"Since we provide services to our member societies, some of whom are tenants, we need to be sure that we will be able to withstand a major disruption and continue to be operational," said Dr. Guy Fogleman, FASEB Executive Director. FASEB is the nation's largest coalition of biomedical researchers, representing 23 scientific societies and more than 90,000 researchers from around the world. The campus currently houses FASEB offices, 11 federation member societies, and eight additional societies and associations interested in biomedical research. Fogleman recalls, "Attainium was with us every step of the way with both technology and personal contact; we now have confidence in a plan that will keep us up and running."